State police and deputy sheriffs responded to a report of armed intruders inside a house by locking down an Upstate neighborhood for two hours -- until they determined the report was a sham.
John Sheehan, 28, told deputies on Friday night that he had gone to a friend's house in Putnam Lake to walk the friend's dog and had seen several heavily armed people wearing masks inside the house, Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith said Saturday.
Law enforcement officers cordoned off an area surrounding the house at about 11:30 p.m. and locked it down for two hours.
No intruders were found and Sheehan was subsequently charged with falsely reporting an incident, Smith said. He was later taken to a hospital for a psychological evaluation.
There was no information available indicating that Sheehan had obtained a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
